Crochet Stripe – Crochet That Looks Like Knitting

Crochet Stripe – Crochet That Looks Like Knitting

This post is my submission to the Deramores Craft Blog Competition 2015. Deramores is the UK’s number one online retailer of knitting and crochet supplies. Visit www.deramores.com for more details.

When crocheting a stripe pattern, alternating colours every row, the end result looks a bit jagged. The pictures below show a planter that I have made in half treble stitches. This is a cool effect, and I like the look of it.

Sometimes however, when I am after a smoother finish that looks almost a bit like it has been knitted, instead of alternating colours every row, I work the main fabric in one colour, and then I add the second colour as overlay chain stitches. The result is a thicker fabric with sharper transitions between the two colours. I find the overlay chain stitch is easiest worked one or two rows down, as I go along. The stitch has a v-shape similar to that of a knit stitch.

The coaster and vase in the pictures above have been made using this technique. When worked in the round and in a spiral there are only four ends to weave in when you are finished! I think it looks a bit like every other row has been crocheted, and every other row has been knitted, even though the v-shapes are horizontally oriented.

When I read Marinke’s blog post about Crochet That Looks Like Knitting for her blog A Creative Being as one of the themes for the Deramores 2015 blog competition, it gave me an idea. She has designed a beautiful bag in the half treble stitch (half double in American terminology) , but instead of going through the two top loops like you normally do when you crochet, she uses the third loop at the back of the two main loops. This pushes the two main loops forward in a v-shape and creates a fabric that looks similar to a knitted K1P1 rib.

So I thought I would attempt to combine the third loop crochet technique with overlay chain stitches to see if I could crochet a stripy fabric that looks like every row has been knitted. I used cotton DK yarn (Deramores have a great selection) and an empty, clean cylindrical container. I started by making a flat circle in normal half treble stitches. When I reached the size of the bottom of the container I stopped increasing the rounds, and worked my way up in a spiral, now using the third loop half treble stitch. Every two rows I dropped the white yarn and picked up the black to work overlay chain stitches into the white fabric, putting my hook in the same place where the white stitches were worked. The black yarn I joined in at the base of the container. I used a larger size hook for the black overlay stitches, so that it wouldn’t be too tight.

Here is a video clip that demonstrates the techniques (video only, no sound):

And this is the finished container:

The fabric is thick and slightly ribbed. It is non elastic, so I recommend trying it on along the way if you want to make a similar project. I would love to experiment more with these techniques. Perhaps my next project will be a stripy bag?

Have you used this method for any of your projects? I would love to see!